Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem drew outrage when she sported a Rolex watch reported to cost $50,000 when visiting the El Salvadorian mega-prison known as CECOT this month. Noem was seen wearing a an 18-karat gold Rolex Cosmograph Daytona , as first reported by the Washington Post, at the prison where the Trump administration flew 261 Venezuelans to El Salvador, alleging they were members of a Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua without due process under the Alien Enemies Act . Civil rights groups attacked Noem, pointing out that the watch was a flaunting of income disparity between the U.
S. and El Salvador. "You’re in front of all these people in a very poor country, who are in the bottom 10 or 20 percent of their country .
.. and it looks like you’re just flaunting your wealth while you flaunt your freedom," Adam Isacson told the Post.
A spokesperson for the secretary previously criticized USA TODAY for inquiring about the watch, saying, "Governor Noem chose to use the proceeds from her New York Times best-selling books to purchase an item she could wear and one day pass down to her children." It is not the first time in recent memory that sartorial choices made by politicians have drawn heat. Here are a few examples.
John Fetterman wears hoodie and shorts to inauguration While inauguration dress codes have long casualized since Ronald Reagan wore a stroller suit to assume the Presidency, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman took it to the extreme when President Donald Tr.
